Rethinking Early Medieval India

A Reader

Upinder Singh

Rethinking Early Medieval India

A Reader

Upinder Singh

Description

This reader presents a new understanding of the early medieval period of Indian history (c. 600-1300 CE), highlighting the complex and multilinear nature of its historical processes. The book examines the major historiographical debates and also moves beyond them, throwing light on many important aspects of the social, economic, political, and cultural history of the pre-Sultanate and non-Sultanate early medieval. The volume brings together a careful selection of readings, including seminal essays as well as recent writing. Comprehensive and thought-provoking, it discusses: theoretical frameworks, namely the feudalism, segmentary state, and integrative/processual models; political processes, including the interaction between states and forest tribes; village and city
life, with a focus on agrarian structure, urban patterns, trade, varn?a, j?ti, and gender; religion, art, and culture, within and beyond regional frameworks; histories of language, literature, ideas, attitudes, and emotions. The introduction provides presents a critical and incisive overview and analysis of debates and writings related to a wide range of historical issues. In doing so, it raises new questions, suggests new approaches, and opens up possibilities for future research.

This book will interest students and teachers of ancient and medieval Indian history.

Rethinking Early Medieval India

A Reader

Upinder Singh

Table of Contents

List of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction by Upinder SinghPART I: THEORETICAL MODELS AND POLITICAL PROCESSES: 1. How Feudal was Indian Feudalism? by R.S. Sharma2. The Segmentary State: Interim Reflections by Burton Stein3. The Early and the Imperial Kingdom: A Processual Model of Integrative State Formation in Early Medieval India by Hermann KulkePART II: VILLAGE, TOWN, AND SOCIETY: 4. Land Rights and Social Stratification by Kesavan Veluthat5. Nagaram: Commerce and Towns AD 850-1350 by Noboru Karashima, Y. Subbarayalu, and P. Shanmugam6. The Society of Kakatiya Andhra by Cynthia
Talbot7. Women and Power in Medieval Kashmir by Devika RangachariPART III: RELIGION AND CULTURE, WITHIN AND ACROSS REGIONS: 8. Domesticity and Difference/Women and Men: Religious Life in Medieval Tamil Nadu by Leslie C. Orr 9. Cult Region: The Pur?n?as and the Making of the Cultural Territory of Bengal by Kunal Chakrabarti10. The Flying Messenger by Kapila VatsyayanPART IV: MAPPING LANGUAGE, IDEAS, AND ATTITUDES: 11. The Sanskrit Cosmopolis and the Vernacular Revolution by Sheldon Pollock12. Politics, Violence and War in K?mandaka's N?tis?ra by Upinder Singh13. Images of Raiders and Rulers by B.D. ChattopadhyayaNotes on Contributors

Rethinking Early Medieval India

A Reader

Upinder Singh

Author Information

Upinder Singh is Professor at the Department of History in the University of Delhi.